Albertsons Companies bought Mealime in 2021. That purchase is why Mealime the app is shutting down on October 21, 2026, and why Albertsons is moving people off Mealime and into Meals Hub inside Albertsons grocery store apps. There is no clean migration. A Mealime account does not transfer. Saved recipes, preferences, and plans do not move automatically. You sign in to a store app and set Meals Hub up again. Your personal data in Mealime is deleted when the app shuts down. There is no export of a Mealime cookbook into another app. TastySpread is a separate free app on iOS and Android, and a Mealime alternative for people who want their own cookbook, dinner plan, and grocery list. It is not the official replacement, and it does not import a Mealime account.
Those dates and account rules come from Mealime’s closing page.
What Mealime’s closing page actually says
Mealime will be discontinued as of October 21, 2026. Albertsons Companies acquired Mealime in 2021, and its recipes and meal-planning tools have been in Albertsons grocery apps since then. Albertsons is moving people to Meals Hub on those store apps.
The page shows Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME Markets, Shaw’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Pavilions, Star Market, United Supermarkets, Haggen, and Carrs. Tap More at the bottom right, then Meals Hub. Meals Hub is on the store websites too. Pick a local store and the site opens that store’s Meals Hub.
Meals Hub is free, including recipes that used to be Mealime Pro. The same core team is behind the recipes, and new ones come from the Mealime chef team. The page mentions kid-friendly meals, holiday recipes, and Meals with Deals. After you sign in to a store app, you set dietary preferences in your Meals Hub profile. You can browse recipes, create meal plans, and generate shopping lists even if you do not live near an Albertsons Companies store.
Pro subscribers are not charged again before October 21, 2026. Until the app closes, Pro recipes and features are open to everyone still using Mealime.
What happens to the recipes and the account
Published Mealime recipes stay on Meals Hub, along with thousands more. Your Mealime account does not transfer with them. You create an Albertsons Companies store login, or sign in to one you already have, and set preferences and settings again in Meals Hub.
Personal data in Mealime is deleted when the app shuts down. Until then, you can use the privacy rights in Mealime’s privacy policy, including the right to delete your data.
There is no automatic export of saved Mealime recipes into TastySpread. Copy any save that lives only in Mealime before October 21. A photo, a note, or the original web address is enough to rebuild it.
A Mealime alternative if you want the app to be yours
Meals Hub works if you want those recipes inside a grocery store app. TastySpread keeps the cookbook, the dinner plan, and the grocery list in an app of their own. It is free on iOS and Android. The iOS app runs on iPhone and iPad. You need iOS 18 or later, or Android 11 or later. One account syncs the cookbook, the calendar, and the grocery list across those devices.
Dinner, the week, and the grocery list
The hard part is often choosing. It is late afternoon and dinner is still open. TastySpread starts with the Dinner Picker, and the picker is free.
Swipe right to keep a recipe on a shortlist. Swipe left to pass for now. A left swipe does not delete the recipe. From that shortlist, schedule the one you want for a specific night.
The picker gets better the more you swipe. It ranks recipes from what you actually cook and save.
When you already know the dish, search more than 700,000 recipes and filter them. Saving a recipe from that catalog does not count as an import. You can type your own recipe, including the one on the card in the drawer. Cookbook saves are unlimited. You can review a recipe and share one as a link. The app has no ads.
The weekly calendar covers the nights you want settled ahead of time. Schedule the meals, and TastySpread builds a grocery list from them. You can send the grocery list to Instacart.
A free account gets 5 imports a week, total. Website addresses, TikTok, and Instagram share that 5. It is not 5 of each. The count resets Sunday night, UTC. Premium removes the cap. A TikTok or Instagram import reads the written recipe in the caption. It does not use the video, and it does not use the audio.
What is free and what Premium adds
The picker, search, filters, the weekly calendar, the grocery list from scheduled meals, unlimited saves, recipes you type, reviews, shared links, and no ads are free.
Premium is $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year. The person who owns a Family Group needs Premium. People they invite join free.
Premium adds unlimited imports. Cooking from what you have is Premium too, whether you use a pantry photo, a fridge photo, or a typed ingredient list. Moving one grocery item into an aisle by hand is free. The button that sorts the whole list is Premium.
Premium shows calorie and macro breakdowns for the meals on your plan. Those numbers describe what you scheduled. TastySpread does not keep a food diary, and it does not offer a weight-loss program.
There is an AI recipe builder if you want a recipe from a prompt: on iOS, Apple Intelligence is free and ChatGPT is Premium, and on Android the builder is Premium only.
After October 21, side by side
| Mealime after October 21 | TastySpread | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | The Mealime app is discontinued. Meals Hub is in Albertsons Companies store apps and on their websites. | Its own app on iOS and Android. iPhone and iPad need iOS 18 or later. Android needs Android 11 or later. |
| Does your current account come with you? | No. Sign in to a store app and set Meals Hub up again. | No. A new TastySpread account. A Mealime login does not carry over. |
| Price of the meal app itself | Meals Hub is free, including recipes that used to be Mealime Pro. | Free for planning, search, the calendar, and the grocery list. Premium is $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year. |
| Dinner planning | Meal plans in Meals Hub, including if you do not shop at an Albertsons Companies store. | Free Dinner Picker and weekly calendar. Shortlist a recipe, pass for now, then schedule one night. |
| Grocery list | Shopping lists in Meals Hub, including if you do not shop at an Albertsons Companies store. | Built from the meals you scheduled. Included free. |
| Recipes you already saved | Published Mealime recipes stay on Meals Hub. Your account does not come with you. Personal data is deleted at shutdown. | No automatic export from Mealime. Search, type a recipe, or import a written one. |
Questions people are asking
Is Mealime shutting down?
Yes. Mealime will be discontinued as of October 21, 2026. Albertsons Companies acquired it in 2021 and is moving people to Meals Hub inside its store apps. Pro subscribers are not charged again before that date.
What is replacing Mealime?
Meals Hub replaces the app. It lives inside Albertsons Companies store apps, including Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and Jewel-Osco, and on their websites. It is free, including recipes that used to be Mealime Pro, and the same core team still handles the recipes. You can plan meals and make shopping lists even if no store is nearby.
Can I transfer my Mealime recipes to another app?
The closing page does not describe a transfer. You sign in to a store app and set preferences again in Meals Hub, and personal data in Mealime is deleted when the app shuts down. There is no automatic export of saved Mealime recipes into TastySpread. Copy any save that lives only in Mealime before October 21.
What is a good Mealime alternative?
Use Meals Hub if you want Mealime’s recipes inside a grocery store app. TastySpread is a Mealime alternative if you want a free cookbook, dinner plan, and grocery list on iOS and Android. Keep a recipe with a right swipe, pass for now with a left swipe, and schedule a night. Mealime saves do not come over on their own.
Is Meals Hub the same as the Mealime app?
No. The Mealime app ends on October 21, 2026, and Meals Hub is a section of the store apps and store websites. You open it from the More tab. Mealime’s recipes are there, from the same core team, and your Mealime account does not transfer.